WASHINGTON — What is it about scoreless inning streaks and the Los Angeles Dodgers?
Right-hander Zack Greinke threw eight scoreless innings on Sunday in a 5-0 win in Washington over the Nationals. That ran his scoreless streak to 43 2/3 innings.
He has not allowed a run in his last six starts. Since 1920, the only other pitchers do that were also with the Dodgers: Orel Hershiser in 1988 and Don Drysdale in 1968, years they both had long streaks of their own.
Hershiser was at Nationals Park on Sunday in his role as a broadcaster with the Dodgers.
He had to be impressed by Greinke, who lowered his ERA to 1.30.
“I was making some good pitches,” said Greinke, who said a run in the fourth to make it 1-0 did not change his approach.
Said manager Don Mattingly of his starter: “Tremendous again. He was locked in early. When these kind of guys get together, Max and him, they know they can’t give up runs. He had to be sharp and he was.”
As Mattingly addressed the media after Sunday’s game, a television in his office showed a chart of the longest scoreless streaks by pitchers since 1961 — the one by Greinke is now the fourth longest in that time.